“I’m Ben Coleman.” They shook hands. “Nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure’s mine.” Finley gestured to her. “This is my co-worker Akira Wells.”
“Hi.” He turned an easy, confident smile on her. His hand was dry. His handshake—exactly the right temperature and firmness. “I knew a girl named Kaya Wells in high school. Any relation?”
“Kaya’s my oldest sister. She’s now an investment banker in New York.”
“Good for her.”
“My other sister, Suki, would have been a few years behind you in school.”
“Oh yeah. I remember her, too.”
“She works in LA for a very successful consignment fashion start-up.”
“Great.”
Akira was, by far, the most unremarkable sibling and always took the opportunity to make that clear to new acquaintances.
They lowered to their seats. A server hurried over and claimed Ben’s attention, which gave Akira an opportunity to observe him.
Her own father was Black, her mother Japanese. Ben was the son of two African-American parents. His coloring was smooth and warm with a copper undertone. He had eyes of deep, rich brown. All those straight white teeth! All that laid-back kindness.
He washandsome. The kind of handsome that usually came with aloofness and superiority. Yet she didn’t catch a whiff of either of those things in Ben.
“Have you already ordered?” he asked.
“We have,” Finley answered.
He requested the taco special without needing to look at a menu, and their server moved off.
Don’t give him moony eyes, Akira!She was twenty-eight years old, yet her sisters claimed shestillgave moony eyes to men she found attractive.
“Thanks for inviting me to join you,” he said to Finley.
“I’m glad you were able to get away from the high school long enough to meet us for lunch.”
“It’s an in-service day.”
“Are you a teacher?” Akira asked.
“I am. I teach eleventh-grade science.”
Inwardly, she swooned. Ministering to children was her life purpose.
Finley straightened her flowy print blouse. “Akira’s the headof our after-school program. At present, that’s the area of our operation most in need of volunteer support.”
“That would be a good fit for me,” he said. “I love kids.”
She imagined the sound of police sirens.Do not fall in love with him, Akira!
This was a terrible time for one of her ill-fated crushes. The last nine months had been the worst of her life health wise, as well as mental health wise.
Having Ben as a boyfriend would be the best possible kind of self-care, her heart stage-whispered to her.
No, it wouldn’t, her mind hissed back.
What were the chances thathewould likeher? But even if he did, she couldn’t ignore the hulking shipwrecks of her three past love-at-first-sight endeavors.
